she has sunlight in her veins
by bananannabeth
Summary: Hiccup is bored. He's bored of working at the mechanics, he's bored of school, bored of his distant dad. But then Astrid Hofferson, goddess among mortals, gives his cousin a black eye and throws herself under his desk to hide from the consequences. Who'd have thought that you could bond so well with someone while they hit you in the shins and made you pretend all was fine? ModernAU
1. over work and under desk

**she has sunlight in her veins**

 **chapter one: over work and under desk**

Hiccup had just clocked in for his shift and he was already done with the day. He didn't care that there were five cars that needed to be fixed before lunch, or that his dad had given him a very stern warning that he needed to pick up the slack or there were going to be _real consequences,_ reminding him that just because he came from a privileged position he wasn't allowed to coast through life. _Coast through life._ Ha! Anyone with the nickname Hiccup did not 'coast through life', even if their dad was the most powerful man in town.

Hiccup tried to dodge his boss's reproachful glare as he shuffled into the garage, slipping an apron over his head. "Sorry, Gobber."

His boss - real name Gavin - had a nickname that was possibly even worse than Hiccup; the difference being that he owned his with pride. Hiccup was a scrawny heap of hunched shoulders, twitching fingers and stumbling feet, over-compensating for his physical deficiencies with an unhealthy amount of scathing sarcasm. He could be called many things, but proud was not one of them.

Gobber hobbled around a shining silver hatchback, his prosthetic leg clunking against the concrete floor. "'Bout time you turned up," he growled. "Yer dad said you'd be in a bit earlier today."

Gobber and Hiccup's dad, Steven, were best friends, and had been for Hiccup's entire life - before, even, back in Scotland where they'd both grown up before moving to America together after Hiccup's mum had died. Steven had desperately needed a change, and Gobber had been up for a bit of an adventure, so here they were. To be brutally honest, sometimes he saw Gobber as more of a father figure than his own dad, who he couldn't help but see as this imposing, stoic, larger than life figure. He certainly spent more time with Gobber than his dad.

"Sorry, I got held up," Hiccup replied, picking up a wrench and idly tossing it from hand to hand. "Doing, you know, worthwhile things."

Gobber gave him a reproachful look. "And what could be more worthwhile than this?"

Hiccup sighed and waved an arm about hopelessly. "That's not what I meant, I know how important this place is. I just meant -"

"I know what yer meant, Hiccup. You can make it up to me by finishing off that paperwork from last week you never finished." Gobber's moustache twitched up in satisfaction at Hiccup's long groan.

"Desk duty? Really? I said I was sorry -"

He hated to admit it, but he thought Gobber maybe looked a little disappointed in him. He dropped the wrench back into its toolbox.

"And I said finish that paperwork! Yer capable of great things, Hiccup, but you need to stop..." Gobber gestured at him, waving his hand up and down. "This."

"But you just gestured to all of me," Hiccup said dejectedly.

"Exactly," Gobber said, waving him away.

Confused and more than a bit insulted, Hiccup turned to the office.

The small desk was cluttered with loose papers and manilla folders, a clunky old desktop computer taking up more than its fair share of space. Out of all the jobs he had to work at the mechanics, this was the one Hiccup hated. There was something stifling about how exposed the tiny office was - there was nowhere to hide with the half-walls topped by thin glass panels and the full glass door. The only space you could hide was under the desk, and good luck getting under there with your dignity intact.

Hiccup had just entered the space, resigning himself to a long day of draining paperwork, when the bell above the door chimed, and the love of his life walked in: Astrid Hofferson. Astrid was everything Hiccup wasn't; striking, confident, all long, lean muscle and astounding grace. She was top of their class, renowned athlete, perfect at everything and absurdly beautiful. The sun was shining behind her, creating a halo effect around her golden hair, and the way she was sauntering in set Hiccup's pulse racing.

He tried not to swallow his tongue as he rushed to greet her. "Astrid! Hey, hi, what are - what are you doing here?"

She looked surprised to see him there, standing awkwardly next to the desk, but she shouldn't have been. Everyone knew Hiccup worked at the garage because, unlike other teens, he didn't have extra curricular activities or friends to fill his time. Maybe she wasn't surprised to see him there - maybe she was just surprised to see him, period. Hiccup wouldn't be surprised if Astrid Hofferson frequently forgot about his existence.

"Hiccup," she said by way of greeting, voice totally devoid of emotion. "Is my car ready?"

"Your car?"

She raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, blue eyes narrowing. "This _is_ the mechanics..."

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, sure, ah, which - which one's yours?" Hiccup leant awkwardly over the desk to grab the closest stack of papers. Astrid had just opened her mouth to respond when he found her sheet. "Silver audi. Right. Of course it is."

Her mouth twisted. He'd said something wrong. Nothing new there. "Is it ready?" she repeated.

Hiccup turned to look at the car. Gobber had his head inside the hood, still tweaking something. "It doesn't look like it's far away."

"Great." Astrid rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. There was a lengthy silence, where Hiccup shuffled and reshuffled the papers and tried not to lose himself in the depths of those glorious blue eyes. He was failing miserably when she coughed and said abruptly, "So I guess I'll just wait here then?"

Hiccup stashed the papers back on the desk and gestured at the wheely chair beside him. "Sorry, you can, uh, come sit over here if you'd like."

Astrid considered the offer for a second, and looked ready to turn it down when a bright red sports car came flying into the parking lot. The sound of screeching tires and blaring rock music drew their attention, and Astrid's eyes widened. Hiccup groaned at the arrival of his stupid cousin, Scott. Beefy, bulky and quicker to anger than he was to considering any rational thought, Scott was a pain in the arse. It was hard to believe that he and Hiccup were related at all, but their dads were brothers.

"Great," he muttered.

"Shit," Astrid growled at the same time, "Shit, shit."

Her panic kind of made Hiccup panic. "What's -?" Before he could finish his sentence she was charging at him, knocking him sideways and sending him sprawling into the chair. It wheeled back under his slight weight and he crashed into a filing cabinet, sending a rather heavy folder toppling into his lap. "Ow!"

Astrid totally ignored him. Her eyes were darting all over the place, scanning everything in the office, looking for - something. Hiccup had no idea what was happening. The door of the red car outside opened. With more agility than he'd thought possible from someone in a skirt that short, Astrid ducked and rolled under his desk.

His eyebrows were so high he was sure they'd disappeared into his hairline. "Wha - what are you doing?"

"Shut up and pretend I'm not here!" she hissed.

He still wasn't following. "But -"

"Do it!" Hiccup didn't want to risk the punishment that came with disobeying - she didn't even need to say a threat, it was evident from the set of her jaw and her clenched fist. Even crouched a little awkwardly beneath his work desk, Astrid managed to be intimidating. Hiccup swallowed nervously and nodded.

He scooted forward into a more natural position just as Scott entered. His cousin was strutting like an overgrown rooster, wearing a leather jacket and unnecessarily dark sunglasses.

"Hey, Snot - I mean, Scott." Hiccup waved unnaturally. Astrid made a strange noise under the desk and he instinctively coughed to try and cover it up.

Scott didn't notice. "Hiccup," he sneered.

"What brings you to the garage on such a fine day as this?"

"I'm not here to talk to you."

Hiccup sighed. "Yes, thanks for explaining that. I was so wishing we could have one of our in depth discussions about recent political events and world news."

"I'm here to talk to Gobber about lowering my car," Scott explained, lip curling up. "I've got a big race coming up in a few weeks."

"You mean those illegal and stupidly dangerous nights where you and your friends drag race down suburban streets?" Hiccup deadpanned.

It was then that Scott made his fatal mistake. He lowered his sunglasses, presumably in an attempt to stare Hiccup down and intimidate him. Instead, he revealed the fact that he had an epic black eye.

"Whoa, what happened to your face?!" Hiccup blurted. Astrid again made a weird little noise, but it was quieter this time. Hiccup felt her arm brush against his calf and tried not to faint.

Scott hurriedly shoved the glasses back on. "Shut up!"

"What _happened_?"

Scott mumbled something incoherent.

"What?"

"Astrid-" was all Hiccup caught before Scott trailed off into more mumbles. He gestured for him to speak up, and Scott exploded. "Astrid hit me! Okay, are you happy? Did you hear that? Astrid hit me."

Hiccup felt like Christmas had come early. The one thing he and Scott had in common was their crushes on Astrid. Hearing that she'd given his cousin a black eye made the fact that she was sitting between his knees even better. If only Scott knew where she was now...

"What? Why?" Hiccup asked.

"No idea. I was just being my usual charming self and she clocked me, right in the face. Stupid bitch," Scott grumbled.

Hiccup could swear that he could _feel_ Astrid's tension radiating out from the under the desk. He had a sudden, horrific premonition of her launching herself out of her hiding place and hitting Scott again. As much as he wanted to see that, he was pretty sure that she'd regret it later. He had to say something, anything, to distract her. So Hiccup said the first thing that came to mind. "You let a girl hit you hard enough to give you a black eye?"

Astrid punched him, hard, in the shin. He winced and lifted his leg, reaching to cup the ache. That was going to bruise. "Ow!" Scott gave him a weird look. Hiccup floundered, trying to recover. "I mean, _ow,_ boy, that must have really hurt. She looks like she has a mean punch."

Scott sniffed and nodded once. "Anyway, where's Gobber?"

Hiccup lowered his foot, trying not to step on Astrid. God knows what she'd do if he stepped on her. "He's fully booked today. It's really busy right now."

Scott scowled. "Are you telling me I'll have to come back?"

"Yes, that is generally what is meant by 'he's fully booked today'. He doesn't have time to talk about... lowering you car," Hiccup finished disdainfully.

Scott was not happy. He flipped the edge of a manilla folder up so it hit Hiccup in the chin. "Whatever. Tell him to call me. It's urgent."

Hiccup pushed the folder down. "Right, yeah. Urgent."

Scott left in a huff. Astrid didn't move until he'd peeled away with a horrific screech from his tires.

Hiccup bent down to look at her. "Are you alright?"

She put both hands on the seat of the chair and pushed back, hard. Hiccup sailed across the small space and she crawled out from under the desk, straightening and tossing her braid over her shoulder imperiously. "Fine," she snapped.

"Why did you... What was that all about?"

When she turned to him her eyes were like ice. "Did you see his face?" She advanced across the room, bearing down on him. Hiccup nodded. "If you breathe a word of this, to _anyone -"_ She put an arm on his shoulder, pushing him back into the chair. He was slightly scared that it was going to topple over and he'd end up on his back. She leant right down, so that her face was mere centimetres from his. "- _A_ _nyone,_ at all, I will do worse to you. Do you understand?"

Hiccup had forgotten how to breathe. "Y-yes."

"Good." She pushed off, straightening up again.

Of course, to counterbalance that force, Hiccup was sent backwards. The chair tipped and he was lying on his back on the cement floor, slightly dazed. Astrid stood above him, and if he hadn't known any better he might have sworn that she looked almost apologetic. He awkwardly clambered to his feet. Astrid was still standing there. He was in a lot of pain, but he didn't want her to know that. "Girls dig scars, right?" he tried to joke.

"Did you hit your head?" she asked.

He rubbed the back of his head, which had thankfully landed on the headrest of the seat and not the ground. "No."

"Then you have no excuse for what you just said."

"Oh. Right."

"And that _hit by a girl_ comment, what was that?" Astrid looked pretty riled up now.

"I didn't mean it! I was worried you were going to lose it when he called you a bitch so I just said that first thing that came to mind -"

She drew her shoulders back and considered him. "You do that a lot, don't you?"

He shrugged one shoulder. He thought that this might be the longest conversation they'd ever had. He didn't want it to end. "So why'd you hit him?"

"Because he's a dick."

Hiccup laughed, a genuine, hearty laugh. When she offered no further explanation, he agreed. "Yeah, yeah he is. Is that why you didn't want him to see you?"

"You know Scott, there are two ways he's going to deal with that - he's either going to sulk like a little cry baby, or he's going to become even more of a creepy jerk and double his efforts to hit on me." When Astrid sighed her fringe blew up slightly.

"Oh. Yeah. I can see why you'd want to avoid that."

"Normally I can handle it!" she assured him. "But today - well, not today."

Hiccup desperately wanted to ask why not today, but he restrained himself. "Well, I think you handled yourself very gracefully." Astrid regarded him closely. It looked like she was trying to figure out if he was making fun of her. He insisted, "I've never seen anyone move that quick, seriously, that was impressive. I can see why you excel at sports."

Astrid smiled. It made her round face look even rounder. He thought it was adorable. "Excel at sports?" she asked teasingly.

He blushed. Teasing, was that something that he and Astrid Hofferson did together now? "Yeah, well..."

A loud bang at the window startled them both. Astrid became immediately guarded, haughty attitude reappearing. Gobber was there, waving the keys to Astrid's car, grinning toothily.

"Looks like it's ready," Hiccup said.

"Yeah," Astrid said.

"You, ah, you just need to sign here." He gestured to the dotted line at the bottom of the contract, which had already been stamped as paid. Their hands touched as he passed her a pen. They said thanks at the same time as she handed it back.

Hiccup felt like his insides were melting when she ducked her head and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. For a moment he thought she was going to say something more, do something more, but she turned and rushed past him. He deflated as she practically ran from the office. But then he heard the squeak of her shoes against the cement, and he turned to see her poking her head in the doorway.

"Sorry. For pushing you," she offered a stilted apology.

"It's okay," he replied, but by the time he found the words she was already gone, collecting her keys from Gobber and driving away.

He watched her go, staring down the road long after the silver audi had vanished from view, and wondering what the hell had happened to Astrid Hofferson.

* * *

 **a.n.** these two idiots are destroying my life. also i saw this au prompt on tumblr and immediately thought of them, with some tweaking: "You're a store clerk and oh _shit_ I just spotted my ex please let me hide behind your desk-thing". let me know what you think so far!


	2. hiccup's on fire

**she has sunlight in her veins**

 **chapter two: hiccup's on fire**

His dad wasn't home when he got back from the mechanics. Gobber dropped him off at the imposing front gates, and as soon as he'd stepped out onto the driveway Hiccup had known that he'd have the house to himself. He kicked his shoes off in the entrance hall and padded down to the second study, which he'd claimed as his own. It was there that he kept his plans, locked away where his dad couldn't find them, in a drawer with a false bottom. Alone, Hiccup pulled out the print outs and sketches and spread them over the desk so he could see how they were coming along.

A motorbike was on every page, shown from all different angles, in different scales and slightly different styles, from stylised to photorealistic, measured finitely and sketched with such great detail that he'd be able to build it almost from scratch - at least, that was the plan.

His dad would kill him if he knew, because bikes were dangerous and what was wrong with a nice sedan, huh, Hiccup liked cars, didn't he? And yeah, he did like cars - but he loved bikes. Or, more precisely, he loved _this_ bike. This bike that didn't exist yet. But he loved just the thought of it, and he was going to build it even if it killed him, like his dad thought it would.

He sharpened his pencil and set about tweaking the latest design, trying to perfect the weight and balance. Just when he was starting to get somewhere, the front door opened and closed with a slam, and Steven's booming voice echoed throughout the cold house, "Son?"

Hiccup scrambled to gather up all of the papers, hastily cramming them back into the drawer and slamming it shut just as his dad appeared in the doorway, taking up the entire frame. "Dad!" he exclaimed, trying to act casual and promptly spinning around so fast he slammed his leg into the desk, right where Astrid had punched him earlier. He swore under his breath.

Steven raised a bushy eyebrow. "How was work?" he asked in his thick accent.

Hiccup's nasally voice seemed even more childish in comparison with his dad's resonance. "Yeah, it was- it was good. How was - uh, how was your work?"

His dad nodded. "Fine. Busy."

"Busy," Hiccup repeated. "That's... good."

"Aye." There was an agonisingly lengthy pause, and then Steven coughed. "Have you eaten?"

"Yeah I, uh, had the leftover-"

"Leftover Chinese. Good." Another pause. "Good."

Hiccup nodded, because what was there to say?

Steven clapped his hands together and half turned away. "Right. Well, I'm going to go eat and then head to bed. Another busy day tomorrow. And you should be getting some rest, too, you've got school in the morning."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

His dad gave him a look, but all he said as he went was, "Night, Son."

"Night, Dad," Hiccup replied weakly.

As soon as his dad was gone he flopped forward, slouching with his head on his desk. Why did every conversation with his father feel like an interrogation, or an awkward interview of some sort? He could never seem to find the right words to make the conversation flow; their chats were always full of pregnant pauses and every time they happened Hiccup felt like a little bit more of his soul died. He could cope with being a disappointment to his father a little better when he didn't have to look the man in the face - but being forced to meet his eye, to try and force small talk while knowing all the while that his dad was just getting more and more disappointed with him... That was hard.

Eager to distract himself, Hiccup grabbed his notebook and his pencil and began sketching, letting his hand draw what it wanted without any thought. As long as he was doing something that wasn't beating himself up, he was fine. Until he realised that, without even thinking about it, he'd begun to sketch a very familiar face. He'd drawn a rough outline of round cheeks, a pointed chin and upturned nose, and his pencil was poised to begin drawing the eyes - Astrid's eyes.

He dropped the pencil and it clattered to the desk and rolled over the paper. What the hell was wrong with him? They have one conversation and suddenly he's _sketching her?_ Hello, desperate. He couldn't do her justice, anyway. There was no way Hiccup could capture her energy, the fire in her eyes, the way her mouth curved just so when she was trying not to smile...

Hiccup scrunched the paper up and tossed it in the bin.

"It's pointless," he muttered to himself, and even he wasn't sure if he meant the sketch or his crush.

* * *

Astrid was in his homeroom. She was already sitting in the front row when he walked in late, and the excuse he'd made up as he jogged down the hall died on his lips when she looked right at him. Normally he didn't even get a glance from her, but today she stared at him, blue eyes wide and mouth twisted down into a scowl. His spine shivered.

"Mr Haddock?" their teacher prompted.

He wrenched his gaze away from Astrid's and muttered some pathetic excuse before slinking off to his seat near the back. When he next chanced a glance at Astrid her head was down, braid falling over her shoulder and brushing the top of her desk. He watched her all homeroom, but she didn't glance back once. When the bell rang for first period she gathered up her things and almost sprinted from the room, leaving Hiccup wondering what he'd done wrong this time.

He was still wondering when he got to second period Chemistry, and it must have shown on his face, because his lab partner asked him what was wrong as soon as he got to their station.

"What?"

"You look even more spaced out than usual," Finn explained, struggling into his lab coat. He was plump, and his coat always strained at the seams as he pulled it over his shoulders.

"Oh. Well I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." Hiccup didn't even consider telling him about Astrid. Not because of her threat, but because knowing something about her that no one else knew felt precious. Sharing a secret with her was too good to give up.

And while Finn was the closest thing Hiccup had to a friend (besides Gobber, but counting your dad's best friend and your boss as your only friend was too sad even for Hiccup) the two weren't particularly close. They were both nerds, which was why they tended to gravitate towards each other in class, but on a social scale they were in different groups. Finn was the harmless kind of nerd, the one who played role playing games in the library at lunch but still somehow got invited to the occasional birthday party of people they'd gone to school with since they were five, back before the social hierarchy mattered. Hiccup, on the other hand, was the social pariah, on the very bottom rung of the ladder, and hanging out with him was seen as social suicide. Everyone knew that all Hiccup did was ruin everything.

Finn didn't look convinced, but he didn't press the matter. They'd started their experiment when he next spoke. "Did you hear what happened to Scott?"

Hiccup tried not to look too interested. "No?"

Finn's voice rose an octave, which meant it was really juicy gossip. "He turned up this morning with a black eye. He's telling everyone that he got it at football practice but the Thorston twins are saying that Astrid gave it to him."

Hiccup resisted the urge to glance at Astrid, who was just across the room from them. He failed. She was diligently taking notes on every aspect of the experiment, just like she did in every class. She did get the best grades for a reason - she worked her arse off at school. Unlike Hiccup, who was extremely clever but not a fan of the education system. He worked better when he was interested in the subject matter, and when he didn't have authority figures judging his every move. He had plenty of untapped potential, but until he got out of high school he feared he was forever going to remain mediocre, assumed talentless just because he refused to conform to their grading scale.

"Astrid?" he breathed.

Finn nodded. "Yeah! The twins said they don't know why, but they saw her hit him. She's got a good punch."

Hiccup absentmindedly rubbed his bruised shin against the back of his other leg. "Yeah, she does."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Finn asked. "You've got that weird look again."

"Wha- yeah. Yeah! I'm all good," Hiccup insisted, trying to focus on the experiment. "What do we add next?"

Finn prattled off a couple of chemicals and quantities, and Hiccup set about measuring them out. He was very carefully pouring a volatile substance into the beaker over the bunsen burner when Finn hissed, "Psst, don't look now, but Astrid is staring at you."

"What?" Of course Hiccup looked. If Astrid Hofferson is staring at you, there's no way you can't look. And she was indeed staring at him. Which meant that she had a perfect view of the contents of the vial he had been pouring spilling down the side of the beaker and dripping directly onto the flame of the bunsen burner, which promptly ignited.

There was a small explosion, the beaker shattered, and Hiccup and Finn were covered in tiny shards of glass and liquid that probably shouldn't have come into contact with human skin. Finn was screaming. Hiccup's sleeve was on fire. He promptly started hitting it with his other palm, which didn't really do much apart from give him a sore hand. The fire spread to his notebook. He was sure that he was going to burn to death in his high school chemistry classroom when a fire blanket was thrown over the bench and his arm, promptly smothering the flames. He looked up to see Astrid glaring at him, the cover for the blanket clenched in her fist.

He wanted to thank her, but she merely threw the cover on the ground and stomped away, leaving him with a smouldering sleeve and an even bigger mess than usual to clean up.

* * *

 **a.n.** i'm usually a really crappy updater but this is fun.


	3. a hiccup by any other name

**she has sunlight in her veins**

 **chapter three: a hiccup by any other name  
**

Hiccup had been embarrassed plenty of times before - tripping over his own feet, dropping things, knocking over fragile, expensive and oftentimes irreplaceable objects, generally breaking stuff and getting in everyone's way; being an awkward nuisance was his forte. But this time was worse than any of those. This time had to set some kind of record for failure. Setting himself on fire in front of Astrid - _literally_ setting himself on fire! Way to go, Romeo! - followed by a good dose of public humiliation, and now... now this.

"Can I trust you to be left alone for _five minutes_?" Steven almost shouted, accent more prominent in his rage. His imposing frame filled most of the first aid room, red hair and beard and dark suit standing out starkly against the clinical, white backdrop. He continued his tirade before Hiccup, slouched in one of the stiff chairs, even had the chance to answer, "Obviously not! Yer _fifteen,_ Hamish, and yer a smart kid, I know yer are, but yer never gonna get anywhere if you don't stop - all of this!" Stoick gestured up and down Hiccup's lean frame, mimicking Gobber's gesture from the day before.

What a way to add insult to injury. "Dad, I -"

"I was in the middle of a council meeting, we were finally gettin' somewhere on those reforms, and then I have to leave because you've _set yourself on fire_!"

Hiccup bristled, because he was already taking enough blame and didn't need anymore heaped on top, thanks. "I didn't _ask_ you to leave work -"

His dad hadn't been this angry in a long time. "What was I meant to do, Hamish? Leave you here with third degree burns? You've scarred that poor Ingerman boy for life, I'm gonna have to smooth things over with his parents now, not to mention the damage you did to the classroom."

"They're not third degree burns, I'm fine,I'm just singed! And Finn is fine, he just needed a shower, and no one else was even hurt... I mean, my notebook's probably ruined, but who needs that anyway, I already know most of the stuff in there."

"Hamish Haddock III -" Steven said warningly.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, we're going for the full name now, suffix and all, that's great."

Steven sighed so deeply that his shoulders slumped. He put his head in his hands and made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "You were lucky, Hamish. You could have been seriously hurt, you could have seriously hurt someone else..." For a second, Hiccup thought that his dad was softening - he could hear genuine worry in his voice, parental concern. But when he looked up, Steven's eyes were hard. "Seeing as you can't be trusted to look after yourself, you're coming home. Now. And that's where you're going to stay, when you're not at school."

"Can't - can't be trusted to look after myself? Me?" Hiccup asked, flustered. He shot to his feet, not that it made much difference. "All I _do_ is look after myself, Dad! You think sending me home is going to stop me getting into trouble? You're never there anyway, so what difference does it make?!"

The silence that followed was more deafening than anything Steven could have said in reply. He stared down at his son, expression entirely unreadable. Hiccup stared back, defiant even as he processed the emotional sting of his words and what consequences they would bring.

When he finally spoke, Steven's voice was low, a barely contained growl. "Gather your things. I'll meet you in the car."

He turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the door open with so much force that the hinges rattled.

Hiccup winced. Oh, he was in for a fun night. He grabbed his bag off the floor and made his way out of the first aid room, head down. He'd hoped to slip quietly out of school without attracting any more attention, but to his dismay he discovered that the edges of the hallway were full of students, with a Steven-sized path directly down the middle. He groaned.

"Did you lose your arm?" a breathy voice over his shoulder asked.

He spun around to see the Thorston twins standing way too close to him. Riley and Tyler looked scarily alike for twins of different genders, both tall and gangly, with long blonde hair and a tendency towards acts of stupid violence against each other. One time Riley had dared her brother to jump off the school roof into the dumpster, and started trying to drag it out of the way as soon as he was in the air. She hadn't succeeded, but he'd hit the lid on the way down and ended up with a broken arm anyway. They'd both gotten a month of detention, but they maintained that it was one of their best ideas ever. Their reckless streak had earned them the nicknames Ruffnut and Tuffnut, respectively.

"Aw man, he's still got both arms!" Tyler cried, presumably answering his sister's question.

Riley was only slightly deterred. "We heard you blew up the science lab! That's gotta be the dumbest thing you've ever done, right?"

Hiccup gestured hopelessly at his bandaged arm, totally unprepared for their bombardment. "Yeah, I guess."

"We were gonna do it at graduation, but you beat us to it." Tyler stared at him shrewdly, bending forward slightly to stare him in the eye. "Have you been spying on us? Listening to our plans? If you have -"

His threat was cut off by the arrival of Scott, who prodded his injured arm with a fat finger. Hiccup winced and Scott laughed. "Nice job, Hiccup. Who cares about me having a black eye when you've set yourself on fire?"

Hiccup prayed to all of the gods for the ground to open up and swallow him up whole. Scott had had just a single period of humiliation and rumours before all of the focus had been shifted straight back on to Hiccup. His cousin sauntered by, sniggering to himself.

"Thanks for the sympathy, Snot," Hiccup muttered, thinking that if he was stronger he would have retaliated by punching him in the face.

"What did you just call him?" Tyler asked.

Hiccup had forgotten that the twins were still standing right there. "Oh, uh -"

"Did you call him Snot?" Riley's eyes lit up. "Man, that's genius! Why did we not think of that?"

"Maybe we did, and he stole it from us! Just like he stole the idea to blow up the science lab!"

"Come on, we gotta go make that stick!" Riley grabbed her twin by the elbow and pulled him down the hall. "Haha, make it stick, I'm hilarious! Hey Snot, did you hear that?!"

With the twins gone Hiccup was suddenly aware of the gaping space around him. He was like a leper - he took a step forward and people stepped back, as though they thought he was going to spontaneously combust and blow up the entire hallway. He could kind of see it happening.

He was almost at the end of the hallway when a cough behind him caught his attention. Astrid was standing smack in the middle of the hall, expression stern and arms akimbo. She was looking at him like she had back in the science lab, but the edges of her mouth seemed slightly softer, less of a thin white line and more of a disappointed frown.

Hiccup had dreamt of the day when Astrid would talk to him in front of everyone, dreamt of how the two of them would capture the attention of the entire student body as they stared into each other's eyes. But these were not the circumstances he had imagined, and he wished desperately that their classmates would disappear and that Astrid would stop looking at him like... like he'd let her down. He had never felt despair on this level.

And then she said, "Remember what I said about scars?"

Hiccup was stunned. His mind raced back to the tiny office at Gobber's garage, where he'd tipped back in his chair. "I... uh, well, you didn't say anything about them, technically-"

Okay, she was definitely glaring now. "Missing the point."

Hiccup sighed and said lowly, "Oh. Uh. Yeah. Right. 'Girls don't dig scars.' When you're as tough as I am, though, they're just an occupational hazard, you know." But then a thought occurred to him, and his sarcasm fell away, replaced by something close to awe. "Wait a second... are you - are you saying _you_ don't dig scars?"

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She leant forward and hissed, "The only thing I'll be digging is your _grave,_ if you keep making comments like that."

Normally this would have frightened Hiccup into absolute submission, but the way Astrid's eyes were darting around nervously had bestowed him with a whole new wave of confidence. "Astrid, I -"

There was an almighty honk from a car horn just on the other side of the doors, and Hiccup spun around to see his dad glaring at him. He'd stopped at the bottom of the steps and was tapping the steering wheel impatiently with one hand, while the other beeped the horn again.

"You better go," Astrid said cooly, straightening up.

She glared down at him and his confidence faltered. He pushed open the door and stepped out into the sunlight, wishing that his dad would just chill out, for half a second, and stop beeping the horn.

Just before the door shut he heard Astrid say, "Try not to set anything else on fire, Hamish."

He turned to gape at her. The sun reflecting off the glass doors obscured her expression, though, and before he could properly process what she'd said she was gone. He threw his bag into the backseat and slid into the passenger side of the car in a kind of trance. Steven didn't say a word to him the entire drive home, a fact which Hiccup was grateful for, because all he wanted to think about was the sound of Astrid Hofferson saying his name, and not Hiccup, either, but his _real name._

Astrid had called him Hamish.

* * *

 **a.n.** thoughts?


	4. full service

**she has sunlight in her veins**

 **chapter four: full service  
**

Could it be possible? Could Astrid Hofferson, actual perfect person, _care_ about him? Could she be concerned for his welfare? Hiccup paced his study like a caged animal, replaying her words over and over and over in his mind. Surely that was what she'd meant... But surely not! Why would she? How could she? When he was Hiccup, social pariah - _now with 10% less body hair thanks to handy new burns feature! -_ and she was... well, she was -

"Astrid!" The sound of Gobber's voice down the hall made Hiccup jump to attention. He cracked the door open just a little bit further and tried to catch the phone conversation happening in the lounge. "Yeah, of course yer can drop it back in. I'm not sure why it wouldnah be runnin' smoothly but I'll take a look. Tomorrow good? Good, aight, I'll see you then."

Steven's voice was gruff but noticeably calmer than when he'd last spoken to Hiccup. "More work?"

"Aye. Astrid Hofferson just had her mum's car in last Saturday but says it's not runnin smooth. Don't know how that can be the case, seein' as I worked on it meself."

Hiccup stepped away from the door. She was bringing her car back to the garage, when it had just been looked at. And Gobber wasn't bragging when he said that was strange, the man was a fantastic mechanic, he knew what he was doing. Which meant that there probably wasn't anything actually wrong with the car, and Astrid just wanted an excuse to come back to the garage. And why would she need an excuse to come back to the garage, unless she wanted to see Hiccup?

He didn't know how to process that information. And he wasn't even going to _be_ at the garage tomorrow afternoon, as his dad had grounded him and he was meant to come straight home from school. Unless...

"Dad!"

Steven turned to frown at him as he skidded down the hall. He didn't say anything, but he gave Hiccup his full attention.

"Dad, I was - uh, well, I was thinking about this whole grounded arrangement we've got going on here -"

"You're not getting out of it, son, no matter what you say." Steven went to turn away, but Hiccup reached for him. He didn't quite touch his dad's arm, but the gesture alone was enough to stop him blocking him out.

"No, I know, I agree with you, I need to learn my lesson."

"Yes, you do." Steven stopped, as if only just processing what he was hearing. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do, but, like you said, maybe it's best I'm not left on my own. And you're going to be working late, right, I know you're really busy right now -"

Steven looked like he was waiting for the punchline of a particularly horrendous joke. "Aye..."

Hiccup took a deep breath and went for it: "So why don't I go straight to the garage after school, to help Gobber? That way you know I'm out of trouble, he gets an extra pair of hands..."

"Could always use an extra hand!" Gobber offered cheerfully, taking a swig from his mug and ignoring the look Steven sent him. Thankfully he'd been around the Haddocks so long that he was practically part of the family, and the awkwardness that always accompanied Hiccup and Steven's talks didn't effect him in the slightest.

"You've gotta admit, Dad, it makes sense." Hiccup crossed his fingers behind his back and tried to look as innocent as possible.

Steven looked warily from his son to his friend and back again. "What do you think of this, Gobber?"

Gobber shrugged. "It's not a problem with me. I could use the help, if I'm ta be honest."

Steven smoothed a hand down the front of his beard. "You'd go straight from school to the garage, nowhere else in between?"

"Yep." Hiccup tried not to look too eager.

"And once you've finished work you'll come straight back here."

"Straight away. Right back here. Nowhere else."

"Your homework?"

"I can do it at the garage, in between jobs." Gobber raised an eyebrow. Hiccup quickly amended, "Or I can do it after work, you know, if there's not time."

"And you'd still work on Sundays?"

"Absolutely."

Steven considered it for a moment longer, staring at his son as though trying to find out where he was being tricked. Eventually he sighed and said, "Alright, deal. You'll work at the garage after school."

"Okay, cool," Hiccup said, already turning to go. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Gobber. Thanks Dad!"

"Don't be late!" the mechanic called as he ran back down the hall.

Just before he shut the study door he heard his dad say, "I don't think I'll ever understand that boy."

* * *

Astrid was amazingly adept at avoiding people when she wanted to, Hiccup discovered the next day. He should have guessed as much from the lengths she'd gone to to avoid Scott, but Hiccup hadn't really ever been this desperate for her attention before, so her standoffishness had never seemed quite so cruel. As it was, he only caught her glancing at him a couple of times, and as soon as they made eye contact she looked away. He couldn't get close to her for the entire day.

He was having the opposite trouble with the Thorston twins. They'd been waving at him from a distance all day, and then they popped up on either side of him as he walked to last period, startling him so bad he almost dropped his books, which made them laugh hysterically.

"Can I see your scar?" Riley asked, leaning right over and grabbing at the edge of his bandages.

"What - no, I have to leave the bandages on, please don't touch that!"

"Did you hear that they've had to rebuild the science lab?" Tyler said.

Hiccup couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was about the twins that got on his nerves so much, but he found himself being extra short whenever they were around. "Rebuild? No, they shouldn't be rebuilding it, it wasn't destroyed! Those desks are fireproof."

"Ah-ah, my good fellow, those desks may be fireproof, but you also spilled a highly corrosive chemical compound on them. It ate away at the desk until there was nothing left but a pile of twisted wood and plastic!"

Hiccup was not impressed. "Tyler. You're making that up."

"Am not! It's totally true, you can ask Fishlegs. Hey, Fishlegs!"

"Who's Fishlegs?" Hiccup looked around to see Finn walking in the opposite direction down the hall. At the sight of Hiccup and the twins he went pale and tried to walk away, but Riley grabbed his arm and pulled him over. Hiccup tried to give him a sheepish smile but it came out as more of a grimace. "Hey, Finn. I'm really sorry about yesterday, are you - are you okay?"

Finn stuck his nose up in the air. "I'm fine. But my t-shirt could not be salvaged. It was my favourite one..."

"I'm sorry, look, I'll buy you a new one -"

"Enough chitter chatter!" Tyler declared, spreading his arms and holding a hand up in both of their faces. "Fishlegs, did Hiccup completely annihilate the science lab or did he not?"

Hiccup spoke before Finn could answer. "Why are you calling him Fishlegs?"

Riley sniggered. "Because when you blew up the lab -"

"- For god's sake -" Hiccup went to protest, but Tyler shushed him.

"- and he got hit in the explosion, his legs went all quivery and he fell over and flopped around on the ground like a fish! Fishlegs, get it?!"

The twins were grinning like this was the greatest thing ever, but Hiccup just gave Finn the most sympathetic look he could manage. "There's no way that's going to catch on, so you don't have to worry-"

"Oh, like Hiccup didn't catch on?" Riley said, waggling her eyebrows.

Tyler looked taken aback. "Wait, that's not his name? Isn't Hiccup your name?"

"No, it's not my name -"

"Hiccup is totally your name, you're pulling my leg."

"I assure you, I am not pulling your leg."

Riley continued, "- Or Snot. That one's good, I give it til the end of week and that's all anyone'll be calling him."

"You've got people calling Scott, Snot?" Hiccup asked.

The twins hi-fived. "Yeah we do!"

The bell rang, and Finn and Hiccup started to slip away, making up excuses about class. Tyler leant in close and stared each of them in the eye before they could make their escape. "This isn't over, gentlemen. I may have forgotten why I was talking to you nerds in the first place but I will remember, and then you'll be in trouble!"

"Big trouble!" Riley agreed.

Hiccup and Finn just nodded and backed away, letting out a sigh of relief when they were a safe distance away.

"Do you think those two are just constantly high?" Finn asked, voice cracking.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Hiccup looked up at the other boy and rubbed the back of his neck self consciously.

What he had with Finn wasn't a friendship, he knew, but it was still the closest thing he had at school and honestly he wasn't too excited about losing it. Before he could say anything about it, however, Finn was saying goodbye and heading off to class. With nothing better left to do, Hiccup turned and went off on his own to English.

He practically ran out of school when the last bell rang, hurrying to unlock his pushbike and ride to the garage. He had to make sure he got there before Astrid: even if he was wrong and she hadn't booked this appointment just to see him again, it would at least give him a chance to talk to her. By the time he arrived at the garage he was sweaty and out of breath, but there was no sign of a silver Audi so he figured he was safe.

"Hiccup, nice of you to join the party!" Gobber hobbled out to greet him. "How was school?"

"Terrible," Hiccup said flatly.

His boss nodded sagely. "As it should be."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "What's on for the afternoon?" he asked, trying to act casual.

"For you, nothing fun. Strict orders from yer father to keep ya miserable. So, paperwork it is!"

Okay, so that kind of sucked. But it meant that he'd get to talk to Astrid for sure, and even if all they got to talk about were the technicalities of what was going on with her car, it'd still make up for a whole night of paperwork. Hiccup started traipsing off towards the small room.

"Great, thanks. I'll just be here, then. In the office. On my own. Doing paperwork. Boring paperwork. Boring, repetitive paperwork."

Gobber raised one overgrown eyebrow. "You feelin alrigh?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just, argh, you know how I hate that paperwork," Hiccup said, swinging through the doorway. "Gosh darn paperwork just gets me so... mad."

Gobber continued to stare at him through the glass before shrugging and getting back to work. Hiccup immediately started rifling through the files, trying to see what time Astrid was due in. He couldn't find any record anywhere, so he had to resign himself to the fact that he was just going to have to start work and wait for her to show up. If she was going to show up at all.

Time ticked by torturously slowly, and he felt like he was barely making a dent in the paperwork. He was just about to bang his head against the desk over a particularly painful invoice when Gobber entered the office. The space suddenly seemed a lot smaller with him in it.

"Can I get a hand with this?" he asked.

Eager to get away from numbers, Hiccup followed him back into the workshop. He was looking forward to getting his hands dirty, but soon discovered that Gobber didn't actually need his help - he just needed someone to pass him the right tools while he worked under a car. And maybe he had felt a little bit sorry for Hiccup, cooped up in the office. But he'd never admit that.

"You know," his boss said, voice muffled, "you shouldn't take what your dad said to heart."

"Which part?" Hiccup muttered, swapping out spanners without even looking.

"All of it, probably," Gobber replied. "Ya know what he's like when he gets mad -"

"Do I ever."

"- and ya can't hold it against him."

"But I feel like that's the only emotion I ever get from him, Gobber. That or, or disappointment. When I see him - which is almost never, by the way, sometimes I forget we even live in the same house - he just scowls at me like he's been cheated or... or someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." Hiccup put on an imitation of his father's Scottish brogue, "Excuse me, barmaid, I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra popularity and football skills on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone!"

Gobber laughed loudly. "Where do you come up with this stuff? No, no, you're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what _inside_ that he can't stand."

Hiccup stared down at his boss's one good leg, remaining silent until he wheeled himself out from under the car so he could see the death stare he was giving him. "Thank you for summing that up."

"No, look," Gobber said, sitting up on the bench, "I mean there's your dad's way, and then there's your way. And your way makes your dad uncomfortable."

"Speaking of uncomfortable, I'd like a new conversation please," Hiccup said, wondering how his life could possibly get any sadder.

"Alright," Gobber said, shrugging. He lowered his voice and asked, "How's it going with the ladies?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, way to get the mood back on track."

"Aw come on, I've seen the way you look at Astrid -"

"Please!" Hiccup quickly checked over his shoulder to make sure she hadn't arrived just in time to hear one of the most embarrassing conversations ever had between boss and employee. "Astrid wouldn't come near me if she was on fire and I had the only bucket of water in the whole town."

"I dunno, you two looked pretty cosy in that office on the weekend," Gobber waggled an eyebrow in what was really quite a disturbing manner.

"Not romantically, she wouldn't." It hurt him to say, but Hiccup still thought it was the truth. Even if she cared about his wellbeing it didn't mean that she had even the slightest attraction to him. Not that he could blame her for that, with the whole fishbone thing. "How do you know her anyway, how are you on a first name basis?"

"I've known her family for years, I've watched the wee lass grow up. Thought you knew that?"

"Of course, how could I forget that you know every single person in this remarkably small town?"

"Hey," a voice said from the garage door, and both men immediately straightened. "Can I pull her in or do you want me to leave her out there?" Astrid asked, gesturing over her shoulder to a silver Audi.

"Astrid!" Hiccup almost dropped the wrench he'd been holding. He carefully placed it back in the toolbox and then tried to figure out what to do with his empty hands. "Hi, Astrid, hello there, welcome. What can I do -"

She cut him off, no nonsense. "Something's wrong with the brakes, they're slipping."

Gobber coughed and shoved Hiccup forward and grabbed a pile of bolts out of the toolbox. "My, uh, manly apprentice here will service all of your needs. I have to, uhm, go... get some... uh, I've just gotta go." He vanished through to the smaller secondary workshop, shutting the door behind him.

Hiccup was going to kill him. "Gobber," he said by way of explanation, offering Astrid an awkward smile.

She didn't return it. "I'll go get the car."

Once the car was in position and Astrid was out of the driver's seat, Hiccup determined to make this as natural as possible. He could talk to Astrid without being awkward, that was definitely possible. No problem at all. He raised the car, reclaimed the wrench from the toolbox and said, "So, the brakes?"

"Mhmm. I can't afford a whole new set of brake pads tonight, though, so just let me know what the problem is and I'll come back in." Astrid remained standing while he lowered himself under the car. He hit the underside with the wrench as he went and an uncomfortable clang reverberated beside his ear.

"Careful! That's my mum's," Astrid chided.

Hiccup silently cursed himself. He heard her take a few steps, and realised that it was easier to talk to Astrid if he couldn't see her face. Maybe this was the golden opportunity he'd been waiting for. "So, uh, I saw you at practice at lunch. Looked like you were in... good form."

"Yeah, my goal kicking's still sloppy though. I'm lucky I didn't roll my ankle out there today with my current form." Her voice came from across the workshop.

"Oh, ouch, that would have - yeah, no, you don't want that." Hiccup started unscrewing the bolts, focusing on each one at a time and trying not to wonder what Astrid was looking at.

"How's your arm?"

"Oh, yeah, it's fine. I'm... tough, you know, this is, this is nothing." Bolts undone, Hiccup wheeled himself out from under the car to swap his Allen wrench for a lug one - just in time to see Astrid reaching up towards an old racing photo on the wall, one of Gobber holding up one of his trophies in front of a gleaming car.

"Really? It looked pretty ba-" Her skirt was riding up.

Hiccup's brain malfunctioned. "Oh no it, it's fine. Totally fine. Barely even hurt. I mean, didn't hurt. At all. It was more of a, a _singe,_ than a burn, really." He didn't even know what he was saying.

"Oh. Did you know Gobber when he raced?"

"Yeah. Well, kind of. I was really little but him and my dad have been friends since they were like... our age. Younger, actually." Hiccup found the tool he was looking for, but hesitated about going back under the car. "You know, this apprentice thing is just my, sort of, on the side... I'm mostly here to earn some cash so I can race myself."

She was still on tip toe, staring up at that photo, and her skirt was still tantalisingly short. Hiccup was trying not to stare, but how could you not -

There was clang as he dropped the lug wrench onto the cement floor. Astrid lowered both feet back to the ground and his head cleared somewhat. He reclaimed the tool and set about fixing the car, and she continued her exploration of the garage. He reappeared just in time to see her leaning over his notebook, which he'd carelessly left open on the office desk.

"No, you're not actually supposed to -" But it was too late. She was tilting her head to the side and staring at his designs.

"What is all this?" she asked, carefully flipping the page.

He scrambled up and across the workshop. "Oh, uh, those? Nothing. Just some stuff I'm working on. Just, ah, confidential, upper-level development. I can't really talk about it, so..." Seeing that she wasn't deterred, he went back to the Audi with flaming cheeks. He hadn't shown anyone his designs before, not even Gobber.

"Is this... Is this a design for a motorbike?"

Well, it wasn't like he had anything left to lose. "Yeah, it is."

"Doesn't look like any bike I've seen."

"That's because it's not like any bike you've seen. I'm gonna make it. From scratch."

"Oh. I'm more of an old fashioned buy it off the shop floor kind of girl." He heard her step out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You wouldn't want something custom made, just for you?"

"Well... Yeah, I mean, but who has the time for that?" She hesitated for a second, and then said brightly, "I can't wait for the race tomorrow. Finally get a chance to show Scott that he's overrated, I am so excited."

"Y-yeah, I am so excited for you," Hiccup said, eyebrows furrowing. He was almost done with the brake pads but Astrid was proving to be extremely distracting. He tried to focus as he secured the new ones in place.

Especially when she turned around to stare at him. "What, you didn't hear?"

He shrugged.

"There's a race happening out on the edge of town tomorrow and Scott thinks he has it in the bag, but not this time."

"And you're happy because... you like to watch Scott lose?" Hiccup couldn't fault her on that - he'd love to watch Scott lose - but there was a kind of manic gleam in her eye that made him wary.

"No, stupid. One of the guys has pulled out, meaning that a spot's finally opened for me! And I'm gonna show him who's boss."

"You - you are?"

"Yeah! You really didn't know? It's all anyone's talking about."

"Yeah, well, no one talks to me, so..." Feeling completely disheartened, Hiccup lowered the car. "It should be all good now."

Astrid pursed her lips and got into the driver's seat. He took a few steps back as she started it up and rolled forward and back a couple of times, testing the brakes. "They feel completely different," she said out the window. "I told you I couldn't get new brake pads."

"Oh, I just tightened a few things, rebalanced and finessed them... We're a full service outfit here." He winked at her. He _actually_ winked at her. Oh gods.

She didn't seem to notice. She just brushed her fringe out of her eyes and said, "Huh. Thanks."

She got out of the car and followed him into the office to sign off on the paperwork and payment. She glanced at his notebook as he hurriedly tucked it away, but didn't say anything. Once it was all done, she offered him a small smile. "Thanks, again."

"Sure. No worries."

He watched her go, waving her out of the garage. As soon as he turned around to clean up Gobber reappeared.

"Those brake pads are coming out of your paycheck," he said gruffly, but a smile was visible beneath his moustache.

Hiccup just shook his head.

* * *

 **a.n.** i know _nothing_ about cars omg i'm actually going to have to do research for this story god please forgive any mistakes i make, or creative liberties i take! such as, hiccup should have been wearing goggles and a mask for that entire last scene but that would have made the talking awkward so i decided he didn't need them this time around.

also i'm australian so i might slip up occasionally and use the australian term for something rather than the american, hope it's not too confusing.


End file.
